Font at Dersingham Church, Norfolk 1815

John Sell Cotman made this watercolor of the font at Dersingham Church in Norfolk, England, sometime in the early 19th century. Though the image itself is rendered in muted tones, we can still appreciate the stone from which the baptismal font would have been carved. Notice how Cotman highlights the tiered construction and the quatrefoil detailing on the font's basin. Each block of stone would have been quarried and dressed by hand, a testament to the enduring labor that built England's churches. The font, a vessel for ritual cleansing, stands as a reminder of the interplay between material, function, and social context. In Cotman's skilled hands, the materiality of the stone and the architecture of the church become not just a backdrop, but a focal point, inviting us to consider the hands that shaped them, and the traditions they uphold.